The first signs of Alex Ovechkin’s role with the Capitals potentially diminishing appeared in the team’s published lines before puck drop against the Buffalo Sabres, Saturday.
After a 3-1 loss to the New York Islanders the night before, the 40-year-old Ovechkin was separated from top-six center Connor McMichael and was not paired with top-line center Dylan Strome, who returned from injury. Instead, he was listed on the third line, skating with Hendrix Lapierre and Sonny Milano. (Though, for the record, the Capitals’ lines graphic called this trio the first line.)
Washington Capitals lineup against Buffalo Sabres on November 1
The drop-down in the lineup parallels a similar move the Capitals made with Nicklas Backstrom during his final partial season and comes on the two-year anniversary of Backstrom stepping away from the team.
In his 21st NHL campaign, Ovechkin is off to the worst start of his career after suffering a lower-body injury on the first day of training camp, posting only seven points (2g, 5a) in his first 12 games. He’s also struggling to get rubber on net (even more concerning), putting only 27 shots on goal — good for 2.25 shots per game. Ovi’s cold stretch scoring is only matched by his start to the 2023-24 season, where he re-found himself in the second half of the campaign and lit the lamp 31 times total by year’s end.
The Capitals as a whole have struggled to score goals, with Ovechkin and other stars scuffling to produce, and are averaging 2.58 goals per game — the sixth-worst rate in the league. Coming into their game against Buffalo, they had scored only twice in the last three games — all losses.
While Ovechkin opened Saturday’s matchup against Buffalo with Lapierre and Milano, he ultimately did not stay paired with them long, as Tom Wilson was whistled for 19 minutes of penalties in the first period. The Capitals captain then spent most of his night at five-on-five paired back with Strome and Anthony Beauvillier for 4:37 of ice time.
Ovechkin also logged heavy minutes on all four of the Capitals’ power plays — though they were anemic and went scoreless there — giving him the second-most minutes among all Capitals forwards (19:15), only trailing Strome (22:13).
While Ovechkin got a lot of opportunity, he ended the evening with a quiet stat line: three shots on goal, two hits, and a plus/minus of minus-one.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery appeared to broadly refer to Ovechkin’s lack of production in his postgame press conference, deftly grouping the NHL’s all-time goals leader with others on the team.
“I still think we’re trying to find ourselves a little bit,” Carbery said. “I know the (win-loss) record was what it was early on, but I’m not fooled by that. We’re still trying to find our identity. Some guys are trying to get into a rhythm with their seasons. It’s no secret we have a lot of guys that are struggling right now, but they’re trying to fight their way through it. That’s what I take from this game.
“We’re trying to get into the season and get guys going and up to speed and feeling good about themselves and creating confidence and putting some pucks in the back of the net. As we try to get to that spot, you’re going to have to find a way to grind out points and take steps in the right direction. I thought tonight was one. Do we have a long way to go? Do guys have a long way to go individually? Absolutely. But again, we’ll take the positives from tonight. I thought it was a positive step.”
The Capitals’ lineup has been in flux all season as the team has dealt with injuries to Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois. The team is also integrating two rookies into the lineup — Ryan Leonard and Justin Sourdif — while attempting to build on Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael’s career years from last season.
What role Ovechkin ends up finding success in — which may end up being different than in years before — and how the team potentially responds, could go a long way in figuring out how much success this Capitals team has this year. Ovechkin’s playmaking ability and shot power remain elite even as his skating shows his age.
